Phillies spring camp will be packed with prospects
Most of the Phillies prospects who are spending the week in Philadelphia will head next month to Clearwater, Fla., with invitations to major-league spring training. And the scene there at the recently renamed Spectrum Field will resemble the feel of the clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday afternoon, with nine prospects scattered around the room.
Most of the Phillies prospects who are spending the week in Philadelphia will head next month to Clearwater, Fla., with invitations to major-league spring training. And the scene there at the recently renamed Spectrum Field will resemble the feel of the clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday afternoon, with nine prospects scattered around the room.
The long training camp - seven weeks because of the World Baseball Classic - will be filled with young faces. The Phillies' spring roster is at 60 players, and 33 of them are 25 or younger. Twenty of the 60 players have yet to reach the majors.
The spring clubhouse - which added 16 more players on Wednesday - will be home to seven of the team's top 10 prospects. The camp will provide insight not just into the 2017 Phillies but the 2018 and 2019 teams, as well, because most of the club's prospects will begin the season in the minor leagues.
"It's an exciting time," first base prospect Rhys Hoskins said. "There's a lot of young talent, and hopefully that translates to years and years of success in the future here."
There will be an abundance of young players at camp because of the organization's depth in the minor leagues. The Phillies will fill major-league camp with their own young players instead of signing veteran long shots who often end up being released or assigned to triple A. Of the 20 nonroster invitees, just seven are from outside the organization. Last season, the Phillies had 14 nonroster invitees from outside the organization.
Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 13. The camp will give the Phillies a chance to get extended looks at players like Hoskins and Dylan Cozens, who will attend their first major-league spring training after combining for 78 homers last year at double A. Scott Kingery, the team's top second-base prospect, will work on double plays with shortstop J.P. Crawford. It is a pair the Phillies hope can rise together through the minor leagues. Andrew Pullin, who retired just eight months ago and then changed his mind, will play in the outfield with Nick Williams, who will begin a season that the Phillies hope ends in the major leagues.
"We're always told that there's a ton of opportunity in this organization right now," Kingery said. "When you get that big-league invite, that shows that you're pretty close to where you want to be. You're a step away. To me, that means I have to keep pushing and work even harder to make that final step."
The group of Phillies prospects will spend the rest of this week receiving training on what to expect in the majors. Wednesday provided a glimpse of what they hope their future holds: Phillies jerseys with their names hanging in their own labeled locker stalls inside the team's clubhouse. It will be a scene that is repeated next month when they arrive in Clearwater for a camp that should be full of opportunity.
"It's going to be great," righthander Nick Pivetta said. "There's going to be a lot of young guys there. I finished in triple A last year. I'm just one step away, but it's all in due time. It's a process. When you get there, you want to stay there. And how you're going to stay there is if you finish your project when you're in the minor leagues."
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